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Authors Posts by Jim Sharp

Jim Sharp

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The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is seeking information regarding the needs of diagnosed infants with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS), and their families, after discharge from the hospital. For information about the incidence of NAS around the commonwealth, please see the attached report. Around the country, there are a few facilities referred to as Residential Pediatric Recovery Centers, that serve as a step-down for babies diagnosed with NAS from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) or hospital prior to going home.

For information about some of these examples, please see:

For information about Residential Pediatric Recovery Centers generally, please see Section 1007 of the federal SUPPORT Act, accessible at: https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/6/text. Please also see the CMS Informational Bulletin on the topic, accessible at: https://www.medicaid.gov/sites/default/files/Federal-Policy-Guidance/Downloads/cib072619-1007.pdf

While each model of residential pediatric recovery center is unique, they each provide 24/7 medical, nursing, and pharmacological services for infants diagnosed with NAS in a sub-acute setting. Most of these facilities allow mothers, and in some cases, fathers, to live in the same room as their baby. While there is only one facility that directly provide substance use disorder (SUD) treatment services for mothers, several of the RPRCs around the country connect mothers to treatment and arrange for their participation in outpatient programs provided by licensed drug and alcohol treatment facilities. Each RPRC provides case management that allows families to receive all necessary psychosocial supports to promote family unity. The purpose of this survey is to gather information on how to best meet the needs of babies and mothers as Pennsylvania looks to implement Section 1007 of the SUPPORT Act in the Commonwealth.

Please consider taking a few moments to respond to this survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DG3XW7J. Your response will help inform the Commonwealth’s approach to implementation of Section 1007 of the federal SUPPORT Act, which allows for Medicaid coverage of residential pediatric recovery center services.

Thank you for your participation. Please find the 2018 NAS Report here.

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The Child Welfare Resource Center is pleased to offer “700: Foundations of Leadership,” a two-day course, to public and private agency leaders across Pennsylvania. The course is designed to introduce leadership and organizational effectiveness concepts that can be applied in organizations to develop continuous improvement plans to support agency outcomes. The prerequisite course, 9000 Leading with Strengths, must be completed online prior to attending the in-person course. Participants are encouraged to register for the courses together. The Foundations of Leadership course is approved for continuing education credit hours.

Please view this link for more information and instructions on how to register, via their registration line at 877-297-7488, email, or fax to Rachael Ickes at 717-795-8013. Space is limited.

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The Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) has released a bulletin today outlining Intensive Behavioral Health Services (IBHS) code clarification, rates, and MA Fee For Service (FFS) rates.

The bulletin outlines the IBHS overview, including the procedure codes for Individual Services, Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) Services, and Group Services. In addition to the rate fee schedule is language on prior authorization for services.

OMHSAS cites the following fiscal impact overview: the fiscal impact estimated for Fiscal Year (FY) 2019–20 is $11.1 million ($5.3 million in State funds). The estimated fiscal impact for FY 2020–21 is $38.5 million ($18.4 million in State funds). The estimated fiscal impact for FY 2021–22 is $45.8 million ($21.9 million in State funds).

RCPA recommends you review the rate schedule in accordance with your service delivery continuum as part of your implementation planning. RCPA will be reviewing the bulletin and working with RCPA members, OMHSAS, and the BH-MCOs on the fiscal and operational implementation of the IBHS regulations.

There will be a public comment period, whereby interested persons are invited to submit written comments regarding the changes to the MA Program Fee Schedule to the Department of Human Services, Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, c/o Deputy Secretary’s Office, Attention: Regulations Coordinator, 11th Floor, Commonwealth Towers, 303 Walnut Street, Harrisburg, PA 17120.

Comments may also be emailed. Comments received will be reviewed and considered for any subsequent revisions to the MA Program Fee Schedule. Please forward comments and feedback to RCPA Children’s Division Director Jim Sharp as part of your OMHSAS response.

The RCPA IBHS work group will have its regularly scheduled meeting this week and report out as per process. Please contact Jim Sharp with any questions or feedback.

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The Office of Children, Youth and Families (OCYF), as a part of the ongoing revision process for the Regulatory Compliance Guide (RCG), is seeking feedback and comments on the most recent guide. The guide has been developed over the past year as part of summer providers’ convenings and other stakeholder forums.

It is important to note that this guide is to act as a companion to the Chapter 3800 regulations and not in place of the regulations. However, prior to finalization of this document, OCYF requests your feedback and comments in relation to the RCG document.

The department requests that all feedback and comments be submitted by Friday, February 14, 2020 to their established resource account.

The RCPA Children’s Residential Work Group will also be working on this area, and they are asking that RCPA Children’s Division Director Jim Sharp be included on the correspondence for the group’s information. The RCG guide link can be found here.

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Governor Tom Wolf is proposing a $5.1 million funding boost to the state’s oversight of residential juvenile programs, after Inquirer investigations into child abuse at the nation’s oldest reform school and the state’s failure to detect or stop it. The extra millions in the 2020/21 budget would fund more than 100 additional staff positions to several program areas within the Department of Human Services (DHS), the state agency that licenses and monitors privately run residential facilities for court-ordered youth. The funds would enable DHS to “complete timely inspections of facilities to ensure full compliance with regulations, investigate complaints, and monitor the implementation of corrective action measures,” according to materials provided by Wolf’s office. The Governor, who recently announced a juvenile-justice task force, is expected to pledge additional funding for the troubled system in the 2021/22 budget as well. Read full article here (subscription required).

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The Family First Prevention Services Act will dramatically change the federal funding priorities for child welfare. There will be a host of new requirements and some new opportunities in the areas of prevention and older youth. There is more of a push toward evidence-based programs. Pennsylvania is working to implement the provisions of the Family First Act in October of this year.

The Pennsylvania Children and Youth Administrators would like to invite you to join them for an update regarding the Family First Act and Transition Act, as well as hear the latest of where Pennsylvania is at regarding implementation. The Office of Children, Youth, and Families (OCYF) has once again graciously agreed to present and to answer what questions they can. This training is open to commissioners, CYS agencies, providers, and others interested in learning more about Family First and Pennsylvania’s implementation efforts.

The training will be Monday, February 24, 10:00 am – 12:30 pm at the CCAP Office: 2789 Old Post Road, Harrisburg, PA 17110. See the flyer for registration details.

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The Office of Children, Youth and Families (OCYF) Notification Protocol for Formal Licensing Actions and Incidents, is currently outlined in Bulletin #00-19-02 released in August 2019. On October 21, 2019, OCYF convened a meeting to bring together representatives from entities covered within the scope of OCYF Bulletin #00-19-02, to discuss the intent of the notification protocol, and to develop recommendations for improvements to the process.

From the meeting, the following improvements were agreed upon and will be released in new bulletins as described below.

  • A new bulletin will be issued promptly to remove the issuance of a notification regarding removal of staff under an approved plan of supervision. These notifications are no longer being sent. This bulletin will also remove any notifications listed that are duplicative of one another, specifically those that would equate to a citation and issuance of a licensing inspection summary (LIS), as those already trigger a notification.
  • Pending the implementation of CPSL amendments, another bulletin will be issued to include a quarterly report that will be provided to county agencies and dependency and delinquency judges, providing aggregate child abuse and substantiation data for child residential or day treatment facilities, approved foster or pre-adoptive homes, and youth development centers and youth forestry camps. If/when the CPSL is amended to permit the release of specific aggregate data, a new bulletin will be issued that will provide for county agencies and dependency and delinquency judges to receive substantiation information at the conclusion of an investigation, regardless of whether they are the placing county for the child or youth for these same placement settings.

RCPA was grateful to participate in this process and commends OCYF and the systems stakeholders for the collaborative partnership on this initiative The Department of Human Services (DHS) is moving forward with implementing these changes to ensure the safety and well-being of Pennsylvania’s children and youth. If you have any questions, please contact RCPA Children’s Division Director Jim Sharp.

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The Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) is aware that not all providers of intensive behavioral health services (IBHS), that are required to have obtained an IBHS license by January 17, 2020, have attained an IBHS license. In order to ensure services are not disrupted, the Department will not take action against an IBHS agency, as long as the IBHS agency is working with OMHSAS to obtain their IBHS license. Agencies that have questions about obtaining a license should contact their regional field office.

Providers that participate in the medical assistance program can continue to bill for BHRS after January 17, 2020. Providers that meet the requirements for providing IBHS will be available to bill IBHS when instructions are issued for IBHS billing by OMHSAS.

View the OMHSAS IBHS Correspondence. If you have any questions, please contact RCPA Children’s Division Director Jim Sharp.

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As part of the ongoing Intensive Behavioral Health Services (IBHS) Implementation, OMHSAS has released an updated FAQ. This guide represents a composite of updated inquiries regarding the standards and will be updated as a companion piece to the implementation. New questions appear as follows: Question #14 on page 26 and Question #7 on page 29.

We also stress the importance that our members continue to work with your BH-MCOs on the rate development process, by submitting the requested line by line budget cost analysis for the actual cost of programming IBHS based upon the regulations. RCPA will keep working with the OMHSAS Children’s Bureau and BH-MCO task force in the rate development process as well.

The RCPA Children’s IBHS Work Group continues its work on standards and implementation values for our members and will convey its findings to the Children’s Division via Alerts, Infos, and regularly scheduled divisional meetings. Contact RCPA Children’s Division Director Jim Sharp with questions.

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RCPA has been notified by the PA Department of Corrections (DOC) / Bureau of Community Corrections (BCC) of a new referral process for Alcohol and Other Drugs (AOD) or Mental Health (MH) services for reentrants. This initiative is part of a continued effort to reduce and maintain the Department budget, to streamline services, and to offer consistent and needed programming.

Effective immediately, any referrals made to the BCC for AOD or MH services should be made as a last resort. This includes any inpatient placements as well. It is the responsibility of the person making the referral to find placement through other community resources first, when possible. In many cases, reentrants either have or are eligible for medical assistance. Medical assistance will allow a range of services to be funded under their contracts.

If a reentrant is in need of services, reach out to the statewide single county authority (SCA) helpline first. The number to call is 800-662-HELP (4357). A more complete list of every SCA, every county MH office, and their contact person is being formulated and will be forthcoming in the near future. Until those lists are distributed, please use the SCA HELPLINE number that is provided. It can be a starting point for both AOD and MH services, and inpatient beds in the county.

The correspondence from the Department of Corrections / BCC can be found at this link.

For our RCPA members currently providing these services, please contact RCPA Criminal Justice Division Director Jim Sharp and/or RCPA Drug & Alcohol Division Director Kristen Houser to discuss the potential impact on your services.

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